Verdant Tea

I can only describe this tea as transcendent. Beautiful, delicate, floral, buttery smooth transcendence.

Caveat theae potor – overcooking this one makes it lose its delicacy. The leaves are also huge, so you need to give them lots of room to expand.

Making it western style in the Breville, though convenient, just isn’t the best idea. The basket just isn’t big enough, and the minimum 500 ml makes it difficult to rebrew and take advantage of the evolution of the flavour. Gong fu that baby, you won’t regret it.

I’ll post again with more details in a couple of days, as I somehow lost my tasting notes for this. But yes, it’s beautiful and I love it so much!

Decupboarding. I gave this away to a friend of mine who will appreciate it much more than I do. Jasmine tea and I are not happy together, I have to be honest. I seem to like some green jasmine pearls now and again, but that’s about it.

In full disclosure I am not a huge fan of jasmine tea but after reading everyone’s tasting notes I was hoping this would be the one to convert me and it would have me doing backflips and sighing with delight like everyone else.

I drank a bunch of this last night and I’m having some more this afternoon. I’ve finally pinpointed what my beef is with jasmine tea. Although I love the smell I find it very drying and it also seems to upset my stomach and that is just a bit unpleasant. I didn’t tank it in the ratings because it isn’t Verdant’s fault I don’t like jasmine, I probably should have stuck with something else.

But onto other subjects. This is very clean and nice, I think the jasmine goes really well with this particular white. I’ve tried steeping this a few different ways and my favorite is to steep it in the gaiwan at a lower water temp, I believe I’ve been using around 160 F – 170 F. That seems to bring out the natural sweetness of the white a little bit which is helping me deal with the jasmine.

I went and bought some bulk herbs and flowers and I threw a few rose petals in it which is also nice but I somehow want to go make a bath oil with it now… lol!

Cold steeped over night in the French press (to keep the buds in the water) in the fridge.

The result is much more profound than the hot steepings have been. There is a long, mouth sticking sweetness here that lingers long past swallow.

I’m not necessarily convinced that this isn’t an awfully long way to go for a cup of tea, especially one that isn’t hot. But the result is very tasty.

Finally broke down and tried this one Western style to see if it would produce more to get the tongue than I could get in the gaiwan with short steeps.

Steep times were 3min, 3min, 5min and 7min.

Results were much improved, for those of us who aren’t yet professional tasting experts.

Don’t be fooled, even with these long steeps, there is almost no color to the brew. Let your nose do all the work.

The aroma off the wet buds and from the pot of liqueur were fantastic. Dry sunny hay and caramel.

In the mouth these flavors continued and were intensified.

I rarely enjoy light, sweet teas. But this is quite good once you get it steeped in a manner that produces enough flavor to notice.

Just beware, a pot full of wet, open buds can look a bit like a big pile of bugs out of the corner of your eye.

I’ve been hesitant to come back to the Yabao.

I admit that it intimidates me, and I have this sense that I’m somehow unworthy, not yet ready, for this tea.

But already things are going better than they did the first time I went through a series of steeps with it.

I used more buds, and while the results are still incredibly subtle, I don’t feel like I’m bursting blood vessels trying to taste something, here.

In the end, though, as interesting and unique as the flavor profile here is, I think I’d rather spend my money and effort on a good silver needles or bai mudan.

Steeps 4, 5 and 6 have gone in much the same way.

I think I must not have used nearly enough buds.

All my teas arrived today, and I decided to start with the one I have no prior experience to benchmark. There is simply nothing like a yabao other than yabao. I tried to order the late winter variant, but they must be out because the site kept redirecting me to these and these are what I got.

To say this is going to be an exercise in subtly would be a vast understatement.

The buds are quite fat, and the color of lawn thatch when dry. They have almost no aroma that I can detect.

I did a quick rinse to remove dust and to heat all my vessels, I’m using my new double gaiwan technique to do steepings. Watching the buds pop open is a bit creepy and the whole affair reminds me a bit of eating crickets.

The wet buds smell exactly like bai mu dan, which makes perfect sense. They’re both white buds.

1st ~ As long as it took to pour the water in, cover, and pour the water out. The result is almost perfectly clear. But there is flavor, here. I’ll be darned if the toasted marshmallow comment in the write-up isn’t true. There’s also a non-green vegetable here. Maybe a root or tuber. Like ginger but not quite that sharp.

2nd ~ Again, just a few seconds. Still no color. Again, something sweet and biting, like ginger candy, but very soft. Maybe it isn’t a vegetable, maybe it is Autumnal leaf piles. Maybe it is old, wet ones moldering a bit.

This is not a tea for accompanying anything. It requires total concentration to taste anything at all.

3rd ~ A three count between pouring and pouring. Just a bit of a hint of yellow color. Flavor a bit more present, but still very gentle.

The write-up claims you can get 18 infusions, but I don’t know if I can focus that long.

I used 1tsp in a gaiwan which is what the instructions recommend, but I think next time I’ll try more and see if I can’t get things a bit more concentrated.

This is very interesting, but I’m hard-pressed to see it becoming a staple on my shelf.

Like some other people I had purchased this with the intention of mixing it with other teas, I thought it would be great with some dragonwell green tea and maybe a pu’erh.

I really love ginger and always have, aside from the flavor it’s a great medicinal root, good for colds, digestion and just generally warming up in cold or damp weather.

I decided to steep this up on its’ own with an infuser mug and around 2 minutes with boiling water. The ginger is not as strong as I thought it would be, it’s well balanced with the saffron, the orange and the fennel. It is pretty intense and spicy but definitely it matches the description and is as good as I was hoping it would be! It also gets a few bonus points for versatility…

note: I tried it again with some dragonwell green tea and that combo ROCKS! =)

Tea of the afternoon. I’ve had this one for a while so it’s good that I’m finally able to finish it off. This is a nice shu blend, the ginger and galangal mix well with the elderberry, though today I am wishing it was a bit stronger on the berry. The orange is definitely a nice touch. this blend appears on the “archived” selection of Verdant’s site so it looks like this won’t be available again. I enjoyed trying it even though pu’erh nuggets are not really my favorite when it comes to shu.

This is such a nice puerh blend. I am picking up a lot of ginger and galangal today and not much berry at all, but no matter. It’s a nice combination with the rich shu and makes it very zesty (see previous notes). A great after lunch tea!

okay I got a slew of new stuff from Verdant, pretty soon I’ll have tried every tea in their entire line… lol

I like pu-erh tea but I also like pu-erh blends, especially with fruit so I thought I’d check this one out. I steeped this one in my infuser mug at around 200F for 3 minutes.

This is really nice! It has many layers of intriguing flavor. The pu-erh is dark and earthy, the orange and elderberry are tart and fruity, and the ginger and galangal add a nice spicy kick. This will definitely warm you up. With the first steep I felt like the ginger really overpowers the cup but I didn’t mind as I really like ginger.

On the second steep the spiciness is starting to retreat and the pu-erh is coming out a lot more. I couldn’t help myself, I had to try it with soymilk. Yummy! Definitely check this out if you’re an adventurous sort of person that likes spices and fruit…

I forgot all about this my Verdant box. The last of the Alchemy Label Blended adventure. I bought this because I love mint. I really love mint. I used to have a mint addiction that was serious and embarrassing. So embarrassing that people I work with used to hide their Altoids from me…lol. I have since kicked the mint addiction and have been off the white powder that is peppermint Altoids. I now only drink mint in teas or in chocolate.

Anyway back to the tea. Earthiness with mint. I did not really get the raw cacao form the Autumn Laoshan Green but then again I was consumed by the mint. The fennel was a nice touch as well. The wet leaf I smelled more of the chocolate earthiness from the Laoshan Green then when I drank it.
A great tea indeed. If you like mint, it is a nice refreshing cup of tea. I drank it for dessert.

I just received my package today although it was "delivered"on the 29th, my apartment complex held it in the office.
I asked for a sample of this tea because I thought " why not sample both of the whites Verdant has to offer?" The jasmine Yunnan was great so I asked for this, this time.

Hmm.. I went on Verdant’s website to see what temp I should boil this at. I usually do it at 185, but the site said boiling and to use a tablespoon of tea. Instead of using my gaiwan I decided to go for the tasting cup instead.
I brewed it for about a min. It had a nice yellow color. The wet leaf had some floral notes, but I really could not smell more then that. The taste for me was even a little harder to make out. It was sweet at first then a little bitter. It had a floral note but there was something more.
After reading both of the tasting notes that were on here, I think I am going to try again with a lower temp. Maybe 175?
I will come back to this….

My late evening tea. Such a soft subtle fragrance with a flavor bordering on magical. As I said in my previous tasting I fell in love. I am still in love.

I have to admit I knew I was in love from the first sip. There was this feeling of incredible calm. The jasmine is blended perfectly with the white Yunnan. My GF who is not a tea drinker lit up when she tried it. She has had all of my teas and her reaction to this one was the best so far. This includes some of the highest rated teas on steepster. I will go so far as to say this is one of the best new teas I have had lately. Absolutely superb when brewed in the Gaiwan with less than boiling water and steeped for just a few minutes. This is a must-have….

After roasted oolong earlier in the day (2011 Golden Key Wuyi), I really wanted to spend a bit of time trying this lovely Autumn Tieguanyin brewed gong fu style. I loaded up my little glass 100 ml oolong pot, broke out my gong fu tea tray and ru kiln cup, and let myself really get absorbed in the flavors and aromas that emerged.

It is such a pleasure when a tea opens up to reveal it’s true nature. Orchid, rock sugar, sweet grass, with spicy notes too — mmm. Enticing aroma that is both seductive and intriguing. I make it through three short steeps before I get a bit of the saffron flavor to emerge, then the hint of apricot and peach, and a wonderful tart edge. At 9 steeps, the flavors keep on coming. Grassy fields and dried flower tones emerge… as Spock says, “fascinating!”

This is my second session with Verdant Teas Hand Picked Tieguanyin, and I look forward to more in the near future. :)

This time tried it blended with the Yunnan Golden Buds, and it did tamper down the more intense spice aspects of it. Still tasted overwhelmingly like gingerbread cookies (yum!) but without the burning after-effects of drinking this straight. Still cleared the ol’ sinuses right out. I do enjoy this in small doses, but I don’t think I’ll be reordering this particular blend.

This is like drinking a gingerbread cookie laced with hot sauce. It’s amazing. Clearing my sinuses out entirely. It is a really intense cup, but balanced out with a light, sweet black it could be perfect.

I decided to brew this grandpa style in an extra large mug, and the results were amazing. The aroma was the signature roasted aroma that Wuyi teas are famous for, the the color of the tea was a deep red characteristic of a heavily roasted tea.

The first infusion was very strong, with flavors of dark chocolate and a metallic taste (kind of like the description of the tea posted above). The tea finishes with the characteristic Wuyi aftertaste, but because the tea was so strong, it also has a hint of something else present.

The second infusion was dark amber in color, and the aroma wasn’t as strong. The taste of the tea had also changed a lot, and wasn’t as bold as in the previous infusion. Instead, fruity flavors began to assert themselves, and the tea was significantly sweeter. Also, the aftertaste was purely mineral, without even a hint of whatever it was that was lingering during the first infusion. I find that this was a much more balanced cup of tea, which leaves me to wonder how the third cup will improve (given that in my experience, the third cup is usually the best for Oolong teas).

The third infusion is lighter than both of the previous ones in terms of both color and taste. It is sweeter than the other two, and tastes of caramel, fruit, and flowers. Truly a unique balance which results in a superior Big Red Robe.

The forth infusion is noted by the flavors all starting to fade. It is like the third infusion, yet sweeter, and the more delicate flavors are harder to distinguish.

During the fifth infusion, I noticed that the leaves were really starting to get broken up
into small pieces, which suggests that I am nearing the end of the session. Also, the tea was very mellow, with none of the boldness that characterized the eraly steepings. It has become very difficult to distinguish individual flavors, leaving behind a kind of general sweetness and a mineral aftertaste.

When it’s all said and done, it is a wonderful Big Red Robe, easily the best of the three different one I’ve tried. I’ll definitely consider buying this in larger quantities in the future.

I totally agree with David – this tea is a SHAPE-SHIFTER – Oddly enough I have been on an X-Files kick and rewatching the series on netflix so this term makes me chuckle…but it’s funny because it’s true (Will & Grace’s Karen reference there!)

Anyhow…Infusion 3…

Not as woodsy and not nearly as grassy. it’s back to being a bit fruity but not apple…maybe a little citrus tho. I can also pick up a little vegetal taste – maybe peas…but a fresh sweet pea or snow or snap pea but certainly the sweet kind!

I can’t really say which infusion I like over the others because they are so different from each other and offer completely different tastes in each.

Because of that…I am upping the rating of this tea! This is certainly a FUN one…complex and QUALITY tea!